Pakistani Passenger Plane Crashes, Killing All Aboard

Pakistani soldiers search for victims from the wreckage of the crashed PIA passenger plane Flight PK661 at the site in the village of Saddha Batolni in the Abbottabad district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on December 7.

A Pakistani passenger plane carrying 48 people on a domestic flight has crashed on a mountainside in the north of the country, killing all aboard.

Officials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province said the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crashed on December 7 near the town of Havelian, some 70 kilometers north of Islamabad, during a flight to the capital from the northern city of Chitral.

"We confirm there are no survivors in PIA's ATR crash," the Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.

Officials said the charred bodies of the 42 passengers, including at least three foreigners, and six crew members aboard the twin-turboprop ATR-42 aircraft were taken to hospital for DNA testing to help identify them.

Around 500 Pakistani soldiers had arrived at the scene of the crash as well as doctors and paramedics.